Discovery BoxIsaiah 40:12 
Context40:12 Who has measured out the waters 1 in the hollow of his hand,
or carefully 2 measured the sky, 3
or carefully weighed 4 the soil of the earth,
or weighed the mountains in a balance,
or the hills on scales? 5
Isaiah 40:26
ContextWho created all these heavenly lights? 7
He is the one who leads out their ranks; 8
he calls them all by name.
Because of his absolute power and awesome strength,
not one of them is missing.
1 tn The Qumran scroll 1QIsaa has מי ים (“waters of the sea”), a reading followed by NAB.
2 tn Heb “with a span.” A “span” was the distance between the ends of the thumb and the little finger of the spread hand” (BDB 285 s.v. זֶרֶת).
3 tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.
4 tn Heb “or weighed by a third part [of a measure].”
5 sn The implied answer to the rhetorical questions of v. 12 is “no one but the Lord. The Lord, and no other, created the world. Like a merchant weighing out silver or commodities on a scale, the Lord established the various components of the physical universe in precise proportions.
6 tn Heb “Lift on high your eyes and see.”
7 tn The words “heavenly lights” are supplied in the translation for clarification. See the following lines.
8 tn Heb “the one who brings out by number their host.” The stars are here likened to a huge army that the Lord leads out. Perhaps the next line pictures God calling roll. If so, the final line may be indicating that none of them dares “go AWOL.” (“AWOL” is a military acronym for “absent without leave.”)
